Peer-Reviewed Articles by Global Media Journal - German Edition
Global Media Journal - German Edition, 2023
The impacts of media, mainly social media, have attracted greater scholarly attention. However, t... more The impacts of media, mainly social media, have attracted greater scholarly attention. However, their effects on public policy development and the decision-making procedure of a government have not been examined so far. Thus, this study examines such effects in pre-Taliban Afghanistan before August 2021. Theories of signal detection and agenda-setting are adopted. Five variables (problem identification, media attention, perceived change, social media intensity, and relevance of social media) were conceptualized and operationalized to understand and measure the impact. Two data sets, qualitative and quantitative, were chosen on the eve of a presidential election (September 2019). For the first data set, a 63-question questionnaire was developed and piloted, and a purposive sample was chosen (N = 385). The second set contains in-depth interviews with government employees and bloggers. Findings show that social media influences public policy formulation and decisionmaking procedures. The results further reveal that social media are an essential vehicle for governance, have the potential to provide a networked public sphere, and bridge the communication gap between government and the public in a fragile state like Afghanistan.
Global Media Journal - German Edition, 2023
From Ethiopia to Sudan, there has been significant concern about the role of hate speech and inci... more From Ethiopia to Sudan, there has been significant concern about the role of hate speech and incitement on social media to promote offline violence and, at its most extreme, genocide. These questions have become more urgent with the growth of large language models and Artificial Intelligence that are increasingly shaping online speech and may amplify existing concerns. In this paper, we interrogate the assumptions and myths about the causal link between online speech and its impact on the offline world by evaluating the empirical evidence. Overall, we found that there is limited evidence pointing to this direct association and, in line with broader literature on the underlying causes of violence, our review points to longer-term contextual, historical, and economic factors that often drive conflict, particularly in Africa. We conclude by identifying major evidence gaps and highlighting the need for caution when attributing the impact of online hate speech on violence.
Using the example of the discourse on national unity in Germany and South Korea, this article exa... more Using the example of the discourse on national unity in Germany and South Korea, this article examines the formation of transnational public spheres along long-wave political issues. It explores to what extent a similar political challenge of two states is conducive to the formation of a transnational public sphere. The findings of a qualitative analysis of frames in the reporting of South Korean and West German leading media on the process of German unification from 1989 to 1991 as well as the initiatives of South Korean President Moon Jae-In for peace and unification on the Korean peninsula in 2018 and 2019 are discussed. The study reveals indications for the emergence of a transnational public sphere with regard to all important indicators. However, this appears to be fragile and strongly driven by the fall of the Berlin Wall as a key event with global impact.
This paper discusses how television professionals in Germany negotiate the transnational potentia... more This paper discusses how television professionals in Germany negotiate the transnational potential as well as the regional, national and local particularities of German quality drama. The central hypothesis is that the practitionersâ current industry discourse on quality TV drama bears clear âglocalâ traits, as their debates on transnationalisation focus on national or local specificities as well. Drawing on the theoretical concept of glocalisation, the analysis is based on 12 expert interviews with 15 producers, scriptwriters, commissioning editors and directors of recent quality TV drama projects from Germany. First, the article outlines key concepts and methods for the analysis. Subsequently, it describes transnationalism and regionalism in the German-speaking television landscape and among public broadcasters, which are the most important commissioners of German TV fiction. Further, the article deals with industry discourses on foreign sales and transnational distribution. Finally, it discusses the transnationalisation of project networks and individual practitioners on a micro level.
Die RealitĂ€t einer pluralen Gesellschaft spiegelt sich in journalistischen Ăffentlichkeiten nur u... more Die RealitĂ€t einer pluralen Gesellschaft spiegelt sich in journalistischen Ăffentlichkeiten nur unzureichend wider: Ethnische DiversitĂ€t wird in der deutschen Berichterstattung oft auf eine kulturalisierende hegemoniale Art dargestellt. Zudem finden migrantische Perspektiven auch personell an wichtigen Schaltstellen des öffentlichen Diskurses keine ausreichende ReprĂ€sentation, wodurch Journalismus an funktionalem Integrationspotential in einer Migrationsgesellschaft einbĂŒĂt. Dieser Artikel stellt die Ergebnisse eines qualitativen Forschungsprojekts vor, das in Anlehnung an das Konzept der medialen Integration von GeiĂler und Pöttker hinterfragt, welchen Stellenwert DiversitĂ€t als Faktor von Integration innerhalb der Strukturen und an den Grenzen eines institutionalisierten Journalismus hat. Im Sommer 2021 wurden diversitĂ€tssensible lineare und Social-Web-Medienangebote â sowohl mit als auch ohne Anbindung an eine journalistische Organisation â identifiziert und im Anschluss Leitfadeninterviews mit redaktionell Verantwortlichen gefĂŒhrt (drei davon mit Fokus auf ethnische DiversitĂ€t). Im Sommer 2022 fand ergĂ€nzend eine Gruppendiskussion mit acht Teilnehmenden, ebenfalls Macher:innen von Medien mit migrantischer Perspektive, statt. Beide ZugĂ€nge geben Einblicke in die Ziele und Herausforderungen der Redaktionen, in das Community Management, in RollenselbstverstĂ€ndnisse und Antworten auf die Frage, wie engagiert bzw. aktivistisch motiviert ein Journalismus sein darf oder sein muss, der in einer pluralen Migrationsgesellschaft zukunftsfĂ€hig bleiben möchte. Die Auswertung zeigt, dass die befragten Medienmacher:innen das Ziel verfolgen, die pluralen Lebenswirklichkeiten transparent und authentisch darzustellen, um Vorurteile abzubauen und VerstĂ€ndnis fĂŒreinander zu fördern. Durchweg werden gleichzeitig vielfĂ€ltige Herausforderungen wie zum Beispiel fehlende Finanzierung oder Umgang mit diskriminierenden Kommentaren wahrgenommen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem kontroversen Thema Migration fordert einen diversitĂ€tssensiblen Journalismus so auch in seinem SelbstverstĂ€ndnis heraus.
International efforts aimed at developing a specific region's or country's media sector commonly ... more International efforts aimed at developing a specific region's or country's media sector commonly involve both onsite actors (usually from the Global South) and external actors (usually from the Global North). Dependency theory suggests that onsite actors are (stuck) in a relationship with development agencies and donors in which "Western" notions of journalistic ethics, communication and democracy are imposed on them-and not necessarily to their advantage. Bureaucratic imperatives and institutional dynamics especially within funding agencies have been identified as strong determinants of media development practice. Yet, recent empirical insights point to local actors' ability to assert their own strategies in the face of donor power which can be interpreted as agency. Therefore, this paper suggests making use of structuration theory to get a clearer picture of how onsite actors enact international media development practice. Structuration theory acts on the assumption that social practice is produced and reproduced as part of a dynamic interplay between agency and structure. Applied to media development practice, it allows for the analysis of the intentions and motivations of the agents involved, the conscious or subconscious rules they act upon and also the allocative and authoritative resources at their disposal. Against this background, this contribution presents the methodological design and preliminary results of a qualitative interview study on how onsite actors in the target countries of international media development perceive and negotiate their scope of action. Online interviews were conducted with participants from various world regions such as Middle East, South Asia as well as SouthEast Asia. The results suggest that the cultivation of long-term relationships and a diversification of international partners allow onsite actors to strengthen their agency within international media development.
This article explores the ways in which violent intergroup conflict affects how people acquire, u... more This article explores the ways in which violent intergroup conflict affects how people acquire, use, and perceive information. Based on previous studies and empirical findings from field research in four fragile countries (Libya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Iraq), including qualitative focus group discussions and standardized quantitative surveys, we show that the polarization and instrumentalization of media in these countries produce media skepticism, leading to increased fact-checking and cross-media use among the general public. Uncertainty leads to discussions in the community about what the media presents, indicating that media users try to establish agency through advanced information processing and validation strategies. We posit that this type of media environment facilitates critical media literacy among media-savvy individuals. Moreover, the present study develops a research agenda for analyzing communication and information processing in conflict contexts.
This article argues for an approach to the study of trust in news that focuses not only on averag... more This article argues for an approach to the study of trust in news that focuses not only on average levels of trust but variation when it comes to the different sources of news in a given media market. Drawing on large-scale survey data collected by the Reuters Institute in 2021 (approximately 93,000 respondents in 46 media markets), this article shows how around three quarters of audiences are, in fact, selectively trusting toward some news outlets and distrusting toward others. It further demonstrates how this "selective trust in news" occurs systematically in some markets more so than others. While trust in news in general is positively correlated with rates of press freedom, brand-level trust is not, and some of the most highly trusted brands are in places with low press freedom. Brandlevel trust, on the other hand, is at least in part a function of a country's level of economic and social development. To the extent this higher level of trust may not always be warranted or deserved, this finding has important implications for independent news organizations and NGOs that seek to build greater skepticism and media literacy among the public.
This study explores three of sub-Saharan Africa's hashtag movements: Zimbabwe's #ZimbabweanLivesM... more This study explores three of sub-Saharan Africa's hashtag movements: Zimbabwe's #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, Eswatini's #EswatiniLivesMatter and Nigeria's #EndSARS hashtags. Theoretically, we rely on the transnational alternative digital public sphere and hashtag activism to understand how social media acted as a meeting place for mobilization and building cross boundary pollination and unitary movements. This investigation relied on a combination of virtual ethnography and purposive sampling as methodological approaches. Thematic analysis was the analytical tool employed with four themes informing this investigation: democratisation and human rights, transnational solidarity, states' response to hashtag movements and use of parody accounts as a counter hegemonic strategy. The study found that these hashtags and movements achieved a modicum of 'success' by forcing some of Africa's enduring dictatorships to make piecemeal concessions of varying degrees.
In this paper, I highlight the main frames appearing in the discussion of the abortion issue on P... more In this paper, I highlight the main frames appearing in the discussion of the abortion issue on Polish Twitter. Drawing on previous studies of the public discourse in Poland, I suggest that it is important to discuss it in its historical context. Detailed analysis of the data shows that the public sphere in Poland is consistently polarized and highly politicized. Discussing these findings, I argue that it is crucial to not only further analyze the frames prevailing in the discourse, as they can lead to measurable changes in public opinion, but also to better understand the platforms used for this purpose and see them as discursive places with specific platform vernaculars. The presented research focuses on the discussion that took place on Twitter from October 20 till November 15, 2020.
This article examines online violence disguised as humor on Turkish digital media platforms. Onli... more This article examines online violence disguised as humor on Turkish digital media platforms. Online conversations from Sour Dictionary, a pioneer dictionary-platform, reveal how class, politics and gender inequalities intersect to reproduce power relations in digital media against nonpaid domestic workers (housewives) being visible in Facebook. Drawing from the theoretical framework of intersectionality, the study shows that women are exposed to violence not just through the category of gender, while at the same time, the criticism and the violence interchange dynamically through the instrument of humor.
Over the last couple of decades, queer theory has stimulated researchers in different disciplines... more Over the last couple of decades, queer theory has stimulated researchers in different disciplines to fundamentally question central concepts around identity, body, gender, sexuality, and belonging. Scholarship on diasporic media, however, has been slow to engage with queer theory's contributions; much research still works with definitions of diaspora based upon simple notions such as 'ethnic belonging' and fails to interrogate the hetero-and cisnormativities that structure phenomena such as mediascapes, border regimes, and migration discourses. After discussing some of the theoretical and methodological interventions that queer theory can bring to digital diaspora research, this article presents a case study to exemplify how queer theoretical discussions can be implemented in research. Madi Ancestors was initially planned as a festival in a theater building in Berlin to remember and celebrate Turkey's queer idols, but was then forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to migrate from a physical space to a digital platform. My explorative analysis of this process demonstrates how media practices bring forth a sense of queer diasporic belonging both locally and transnationally. Drawing on rich data gathered through digital ethnography, intimate insider research, interviews, and ethno-mimesis, I show how queer theoretical examination of digital diaspora can detail new forms of belonging, intergenerational kinship, and the fragmentation of diasporic spaces through digital media.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has been widely covered on major U.S. media. "... more The outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has been widely covered on major U.S. media. "Chinese Virus" or "Wuhan Virus" became media buzz words especially at the beginning stage of the outbreak, which was feared to fuel anti-Asian hatred both in the U.S. and worldwide. This study examines the news coverage about COVID-19 in relation to Asians, mainly Chinese and China, on YouTube channels of major U.S. media outlets, and explores the relationship between the media framing and anti-Asian sentiments embedded in the comments beneath the news video. By content analyzing 50 news videos covering COVID-19 and Asians from 5 U.S. media organizations and 5000 comments, the findings suggest that attribution of responsibility and conflict are the most frequently used frames by the news reporting. The results also reveal that suspicion of conspiracy, rather than blaming, emerged as the most frequent theme embedded in hateful comments. One promising finding is that the frequency of hateful comments is significantly lower than that of nonhateful comments across all news frame categories.
At a time when diversity and de-westernization are current buzz words for injecting social justic... more At a time when diversity and de-westernization are current buzz words for injecting social justice into the future of communication studies, we must address how we conceptualize and confront these concepts in practice. Academic Cosmopolitanism has been proposed as one way forward, but it remains in the trenches of cosmopolitan theory's difficulty of dealing with diversity in political systems. Simon Fraser University and the Communication University of China's Global Communication MA Double Degree Program embodies many of the core values of academic cosmopolitanism. Grounded in a transcultural political economy framework however, it embraces some of the kinds of conflicts that cosmopolitanism sets up as barriers. Via autoethnographic accounts from the program's first teaching assistant and an alumnae from its first cohort, we explore how the conflicts involved in conceptualizing and confronting diversity are experienced on the ground. We conclude by highlighting the ways in which transcultural political economy enriches discussions on diversity and inform efforts to de-colonize communication studies.
Voicing systematically marginalised communities is a problem historically posed in the media and ... more Voicing systematically marginalised communities is a problem historically posed in the media and communications field, in terms of de-Westernisation and, more radically, cosmopolitanism. Such a problem has been magnified in the COVID-19 pandemic, with narratives from systematically devoiced communities-ranging from migrants to informal workers, ethnic minorities, economically poor people, and survivors of domestic violence-remaining untold. Recognising the need for a conceptual apparatus to voice the silenced narratives of the pandemic, this paper conducts two tasks: first, it crafts a theoretical apparatus of three devices (data at the margins; data poverty; and the datafication of anti-poverty programmes) to conceptualise COVID-19 stories from the margins. Second, it applies such a theoretical apparatus to a map of five problems (counting in the pandemic; new inequalities and vulnerabilities; datafied social protection; data injustices; solidarity and resistance from below) opened by discussion on COVID-19 from the margins. By doing so it offers a conceptual lens responding to the call for cosmopolitanism in media and communications, applying it to the study of COVID-19 narrations from the globe.
This paper examines narrative discourses of the Syrian loyalist TV channel Sama TV in the light o... more This paper examines narrative discourses of the Syrian loyalist TV channel Sama TV in the light of Syriaâs current armed conflict, demography, and regional geopolitics. The focus is on the tense relationship between secularism and religious representations on the channel. Compared to state television, private channel Sama TV has more room for maneuver to embrace a new form of religious presence that challenges the ideological secularism of the Syrian nation state. The national âmythscapesâ of Syria, simultaneously a secular and (Sunni) Muslim nation, characterized by acertain ambiguity, are consequently reinforced.
As argued by scholars such as Lina Khatib, Ariella Azoulay and W. J. T. Mitchell, the production ... more As argued by scholars such as Lina Khatib, Ariella Azoulay and W. J. T. Mitchell, the production and circulation of images recorded by citizens played a crucial role during the 2011 Egyptian uprising. The use of images attracted global attention, mobilized action and actively performed the protests' crucial aims to renegotiate the country's body and image politics. The inherent act of protest in citizen photography and the "war of presence" spilled over into the act of archiving the protests as a form of resistance in itself. Consequently, a large number of online archive projects were launched during the 2011 uprising. What role does this large body of visual material and the online archives that store it play today, eight years after the outbreak of the uprising? With a focus on Egypt, this paper asks whether the dynamics of these archives "died" with the violent crackdown on public protest and the increased censorship imposed on citizens by the current military regime. Through an examination of archive "858: An Archive of Resistance" by Mosireen Collective, I propose ways in which digital archives containing images produced by civilians serve as sites on which the "war of presence" can continue to be fought within present-day Egypt.
The 1987 parliamentary elections in Egypt, held at a time of Islamization and relative political ... more The 1987 parliamentary elections in Egypt, held at a time of Islamization and relative political liberalization, resulted in a significant number of seats for the Muslim Brotherhood. Consequently, the political cards were shuffled and the regime and the Brotherhood became involved in a struggle over legitimacy, in which Islam played a central part. Through qualitative content analysis, this paper studies how, in the context of the 1987 elections, Islam was instrumentalized in the struggle over political legitimacy in the governmental journal al-Liwa' al-Islami and its regimecritical counterpart Liwa' al-Islam, the latter of which was launched ten days after the first session of Parliament was held. Although the two journals performed different roles, there were many similarities in how both viewed political Islam. I argue that these shared Islamic values functioned as an instrument to connect people and added to the legitimacy of both the regime and the Brotherhood.
This article investigates how threat narratives and enemy images were constructed at the pan-Arab... more This article investigates how threat narratives and enemy images were constructed at the pan-Arab news TV station, al-Mayadeen, during the stationâs first year on air. I argue that the construction of an enemy image takes places as a fine interplay between threat narratives of existing political and ideological positions on the one hand, and current affairs on the other. Al-Mayadeen started broadcasting in 2012, counteracting both the new influential narratives of young activists calling for democracy, and the Sunni Islamist trend that followed; both groups became central elements in a process of âOtheringâ at al Mayadeen, dividing the Arab world into âgoodâ and âbadâ. AlMayadeen relaunched the question of Palestine, while the well-known threat narrative of Israel was equally promoted although adjusted to ongoing political and military developments in the region. Integrating the rising new actor, the Islamic State, a renewed enemy image was constructed where Israel and the Islamic State came to constitute two faces of the same enemy.
This article assesses the dominant debates about the agency in media narratives for community-bas... more This article assesses the dominant debates about the agency in media narratives for community-based peacebuilding. By locating the common challenges facing the agency in media narratives for the purposes of community-based peacebuilding, the article contributes to the ongoing debates on ways in which media discourses can be tailored toward the prevention, management, and resolution of conflicts between, within and among communities. This is predicated on the assumption that conflict is a function of discourse, and that media narratives take active part in the construction, negotiation, and circulation of discourse, all of which inform the degree of congruity between news content and expected outcomes. The primary objective of this article is therefore to generate conceptual and theoretical debates on the agentic and formative roles media narratives play in community-based peacebuilding.
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Peer-Reviewed Articles by Global Media Journal - German Edition